LOCAL FOODS SUFFOLK
Local Foods Suffolk is a local food project helping community groups set up and run local food projects. This can be anything from community orchards or forest gardens, vegetable growing clubs, Community Supported Agriculture schemes, food cooperatives or community farm shops. Smaller ideas like allotment improvement projects, lunch clubs or tools sharing clubs can also be supported. Indeed any project involving the growing, sharing, eating or selling of local food can be considered.
This multi-agency project is led by Suffolk ACRE and funded by the Local Food stream of the Big Lottery fund, Suffolk County Council, and Healthy Ambitions Suffolk. The project has multiple social outcomes which it hopes to achieve; from increased health and wellbeing to strengthened community structure and resilience, higher levels of social capital, and reduced isolation amongst vulnerable people. Crucially, the project aims to increase access to local food within Suffolk.
How will we achieve this?
Three Community Development Officers for the project cover the whole of the county between them. They can offer help, advice, guidance and support to communities wishing to improve and extend existing projects or create new ones. Besides giving their time and expertise, they can also part-fund some projects to help with small start-up costs, or assist with funding applications to secure larger sums for bigger projects. Whilst being split georgaphically, the team also has subject area expertise to offer. Contact details for Kirsty, Mik and Tim are below.
Kirsty Wilmot works in Mid Suffolk, Ipswich and Babergh
Mik Bedson works in Suffolk Coastal and Waveney
For people who are not interested in producing their own food, we are aiming to provide useful information on alternative sources of local produce, by starting to map local producers in the county. The project's Local Food Directory is available here; which includes details of where locally produced meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and other foods can be accessed. We will be adding to this as the project progresses - please contact us if you are a producer wanting to be added to our directory.
Want to find out more?
Our quarterly newsletter is emailed to anyone interested in finding out what local food initiatives are happening in Suffolk, inlcuding projects Suffolk ACRE is supporting. Email us if you'd like to be added to the distribution list, or to access the online version, click the links below.
Local Foods Suffolk Update, 1st Quarter - January 2012
Local Foods Suffolk Update - 2nd Quarter - coming in April!
Aside from providing project updates via the newsletter, our project officer Kirsty also has a local food blog. This is an unofficial project blog aiming to provide a source of information on what's happening on the local food scene - in Suffolk more generally, and particularly in Ipswich.
Our facebook page also has lots of updates on our work, including food-related events.
Anyone who has an idea for their community that they’d like help with, please do get in touch with one of us on localfoods@suffolkacre.org.uk. We looking forward to hearing from you!
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